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Thursday, August 1, 2013

Walt Jocketty: 'Quietest deadline day I've ever had'

The July 31 non-waiver trade deadline came and went Wednesday without much of whimper from the Reds. In fact, there was very little movement at all around the league as most teams decided to stand pat with what they had entering the last two months of the regular season.

“Today was completely dead — nothing,” Jocketty said. “This was the quietest today deadline day I’ve had. It started to picked up the last few days like it always does. (Yesterday) was very busy. But in the end, the guys we wanted wanted weren’t available, didn’t get traded.“We’ll see if things pick up after Aug. 1.”

Cincinnati was rumored to be interested in adding a right-handed bat to the lineup in the form of a left fielder. Well, that never happened. The Reds were also reportedly interested in bringing in some left-handed bullpen help. But obviously that never happened, either.“We were looking at trying to upgrade the offense any way we could,” he said. “We’re waiting to get (Ryan) Ludwick back. He’ll be back in a week to 10 days, two weeks whatever it is. We were just seeing who could help now. There wasn’t any significant pieces out there available.”

Giants outfielder Hunter Pence and White Sox outfielder Alex Rios were two of the names most often linked with the Reds as far as the trade deadline went. Both players carried price tags much too high for Jocketty's liking, though.

“We looked at bullpen pieces in case — through the whole process, not the just the last few days — not knowing until recently about Marshall and (Jonathan) Broxton. Marshall will probably be back in a few weeks.”

Giants southpaw Javier Lopez and Cubs southpaw James Russell were the two relievers rumored to be pursued by the Reds.

Teams can still make trades after Aug. 1 if the players involved pass through waivers. It is a bit more complicated process to execute than before July 31, however, there are sure to be a handful of deals made from this point on in spite of the added difficulty.